


All the Stars We Steal from the Night Sky

by SeemaG



Series: Tightrope [17]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Developing Friendships, Gen, Sisters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:47:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26923102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeemaG/pseuds/SeemaG
Summary: Jenny Delaney doesn't want to miss anything, but maybe she is.
Relationships: Megan Delaney/Tom Paris
Series: Tightrope [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797067
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	All the Stars We Steal from the Night Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Rocky for the beta

Jenny Delaney squinted slightly as she stared at the star maps in front of her. The latest data download from the previous day’s scans of the sector had come through without significant errors and after a few painstaking hours, the updated maps were finally ready. _Voyager_ ’s current position was at the center of the area under investigation, and a variety of solar systems and planets radiated out from there.

“Anything interesting?” Mariah Henley asked at her elbow.

Delaney, wrapped up in her thoughts, nearly jumped out of her skin. “Still looking.” She pointed. “This system here, I’d like to take a closer look. Could you zero in on quadrant 3, uh, at around coordinate 3642 by 4709?”

“Sure, no problem,” Henley answered, flashing Delaney a quick smile as she turned back to her own station.

Delaney turned back to her map. What had caught her interest was a solar system not unlike the Sol System back home. Six planets orbiting around a star, and the third and fourth planets looked promising as a source of dilithium. But it was important to keep a sense of perspective and not jump to any conclusions without solid evidence. They’d all felt the bite of disappointment recently when they had been unable to incorporate the Sikarian technology into _Voyager_ ’s systems. She was determined to avoid that bitter disappointment again, even if it meant she would spend even more time searching for the precious crystals. She tapped her communicator. “Delaney to Harren.”

“Which Delaney do I have the pleasure of speaking to?”

She sighed. “It’s Jenny.” And then, with a slight edge, she added, “What difference does it make?”

Harren’s voice crackled slightly. “It’s polite to identify who you are.”

“Well, now you know,” Delaney said impatiently. “I need your help.”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

Delaney decided to not react to his antagonistic tone. “I’m about to send you some data. Can you amplify it for me?”

“You know I’m really busy right now—”

“And I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” Delaney broke in. “But this is the best chance I’ve seen in recent days of finding a potential source of dilithium.” Her stomach rumbled slightly, a reminder that it had been quite a while since breakfast, and of rumors that food rations might be cut in coming weeks. “It’s in everybody’s best interest if you put aside your stupid research and do your job for once.”

“What do you mean, _stupid_ —”

“Delaney out.” She cut the signal with an exasperated sigh. Henley twisted around in her chair.

“That went well,” Henley said, her mouth hinting at amusement.

Delaney waved off the comment. “I don’t feel like kissing his ass today.” She got up from her chair and paced the small confines of the room. Stellar Cartography was one of the smaller departments on _Voyager_. When they’d set out from Utopia Planitia, she and her twin sister Megan were the only two assigned to Stellar Cartography. Samantha Wildman and Kashimuro Nozawa staffed the adjoining science lab. After the Maquis joined the crew of _Voyager_ , Mariah Henley and Tavish Valora were added to the ranks, bringing the total staff up to six. Over the last few months, Jenny had started to develop something akin to a friendship with Henley, especially since Megan had lately been spending most of her leisure time with Tom Paris.

“Tom Paris? Do you _know_ what you’re doing?” Jenny had asked her sister anxiously a few days ago when the two of them happened to be on the same shift. “Based on his reputation, you’re just going to get hurt.”

Megan laughed. “Don’t worry about me, Jenny.”

“He’s _not_ serious about you.”

“And _I’m_ not serious about him.” Megan swung around to face her sister. “Look, it’s just a little bit of fun. That’s all.”

“What if it all goes wrong?”

“This isn’t forever.”

“I hope you’re both on the same page about that.”

“We’re out of here for 70 years,” Megan said. A shadow momentarily crossed her face. “We’ll be nearly a century old when we return. _If_ we return.” She took a breath, as if contemplating all the missed birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and promotions. “Look, he’s attractive, amusing, and he’s _really_ good in bed.” She paused. “I’m just passing time, Jenny, because I don’t know what else to do.”

“I just don’t want him to hurt you,” Jenny persisted stubbornly. Megan always was prone to looking before she leaped, especially when it came to matters of the heart.

“You’re not worried about _me_ hurting him?” Megan asked scornfully, her dark eyes daring Jenny to continue. But Jenny knew when to back off. Not for the first time, she had to remind herself that even though they were twins and had shared nearly everything for their entire lives, they were _not_ the same person. If Megan was bold enough to take a chance with a man who was a convicted felon, a Starfleet washout and former Maquis who didn’t seem to have a serious bone in his body, well that was on Megan.

“Maybe _you_ should try having some fun,” Megan said. “Picking up extra shifts isn’t going to get us home any quicker, you know.”

Jenny bit her tongue and slowly counted to ten. She knew she was lucky to have her sister with her, but sometimes she found Megan absolutely infuriating. “There’s always a chance we will find a wormhole, or some other celestial phenomenon that could be our ticket home. I don’t want to miss anything,” Jenny said. “More importantly, we need to find more dilithium. If we run out…”

Megan’s expression clouded. For a moment, it looked as if she was going to say something, but then she simply turned on her heel and left their shared quarters. That had been two days ago, and Jenny still hadn’t seen Megan or even heard from her. In fact, Jenny had expected to be on shift together with Megan today but had been surprised to see Henley at Megan’s station instead. There had been a long and rambling explanation – something about Megan swapping with Gerron, and then Henley taking Gerron’s shift. Jenny had bit back her disappointment as she listened to Henley’s breathless retelling of the situation. _It would be fine_ , Jenny told herself, not for the first time. This would blow over, like all their arguments did. Megan had a hot temper, but she always cooled down.

“He likes you,” Henley said now.

Jenny blinked back to attention, her mind still on Megan and Tom Paris. “Who? Harren? Please.”

“Yeah. I’ve seen the way he looks at you in the Mess Hall.”

“He can look all he wants, but I’m not interested.” Jenny stiffened as a new burst of data came across her console. “Hey, Mariah, take a look at this.”

Henley came to stand at her shoulder. “A gas giant? What good will that do us?”

“No, next to it, two degrees starboard.”

Henley frowned. “It’s an M-class planet.” Her expression immediately brightened. “And you’re picking up a high level of electromagnetic emissions that indicate it’s populated.”

“Now the question is whether it has warp-capability,” Jenny said. Her fingers flew over the console, expertly entering some variables for the algorithms to compute. “I’ll have to get this data to Commander Chakotay. At warp six, we could be there in two months.”

“B’Elanna will be happy to hear that,” Henley said. She looked at her own station. “I’m not seeing any traffic though. No shipping lanes.”

“We’re still two months away. Give it time.”

“True,” Henley said. “Though in the Maquis days, it meant that we could usually find an uninhabited section of the world to set down and then we’d hike to the nearest town to resupply.” Her lips twisted into a wistful expression. “Seems like a really long time ago.”

“Yeah,” Delaney said, staring at Henley, who was literally the most unMaquis-like Maquis she could imagine. Unlike the others, Henley was friendly, outgoing to the point of exuding warmth, and seemingly had a genuine desire to get to know the Starfleet officers. “I know what you mean.” She sighed. “Let’s get some more data. It would be nice to have something good to look forward to, you know?”

“I’ll continue to scan for any nearby trading posts or ships,” Henley said. “One thing’s for sure, I’m not getting a lot of interference along the EM bands.” Her mouth twisted into a lopsided grin. “For a change.”

Delaney appreciated Henley’s reminder. So, few things had gone right in the last few months that it was best to be grateful when something _did_ appear to be in their favor. “I guess you’re right,” she said. “We have to take whatever we can get.”

“Got to make the best of it,” Henley said wistfully. “At first, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but now that I’m settling in…”

“You mean on _Voyager_?”

“Yeah.”

Delaney thought about her quarters, and the few personal items she had brought to decorate it. She had only brought a couple of holos of friends and family because this was a mission that was only supposed to last a few weeks. She took a deep breath. “What do you do when you’re not on duty?”

Henley shrugged. “Not much. Mostly just hang out with the other Maquis. Especially Jor, but lately she’s spending more time with Tabor.”

Delaney knew _exactly_ what that felt like. “So, have you tried Tom Paris’ new program? It’s a re-creation of some rundown bar he liked to hang out at when he was at the Academy.”

“No, Gerron went once, but I was on shift that night. Maybe next time.”

“Megan says it’s pretty good and she had a nice time. You should get the other Maquis to come and mingle with the rest of us.”

“I can try,” Henley said with a hesitation that Jenny immediately recognized. It _was_ hard making new connections on this ship, but as Megan was fond of saying, they _were_ going to be stuck with each other for a long time. Maquis or Starfleet, it really shouldn’t matter anymore. And maybe Megan was right about other things as well. Maybe she _should_ have some fun. It wouldn’t kill her to take some time off. But the nagging thought remained: _what if she missed spotting the wormhole that would get them home_?

“Have you been?” Henley asked anxiously. “To any of Paris’s parties, I mean?”

“Not yet, but that’s going to change. And you’re coming with me,” Delaney said, injecting her voice with a confident enthusiasm that didn’t quite match her mood, but Henley didn’t seem to notice. “I won’t take no for an answer.”

“I could ask Kurt as well,” Henley said, almost to herself. “He’ll come. I think.”

Delaney didn’t know much about Kurt Bendera except that he had been assigned to Engineering, but he seemed friendly enough when they saw each other in the Mess Hall. He had a nice smile and she thought it might be nice to get to know him better. “Sounds great,” Delaney said. “I’m sure Megan will let us know next time Paris is hosting.”

Suddenly, her console beeped, and her eyes widened as the images in front of her sharpened greatly. She was able to zoom in to certain areas of the M-class world and see the topography with greater acuity. Harren might be a pain in the ass to deal with, but he knew how to deliver. “Do you see what I see?”

“Care to share?” said a voice from behind them. Delaney twisted around to see Nozawa standing in the entrance of the adjoining the science lab. He placed a stack of PADDs on the edge of the console directly to the left of the door. “Find anything interesting?”

“Just some dilithum,” Delaney said with a broad smile. She outlined a particular mountain ridge with her pointer finger. “We’ve got enough resolution now to run a surface scan.” She couldn’t help the smile from coloring her voice. They had been searching for this particular outcome for weeks now, and her shoulders sagged with relief. “We’ll know once we get an initial minerology report and geological scan, but all the signs look good.”

“Glad to hear it,” Nozawa said. “I heard some of the engineers saying that if we didn’t find some dilithium soon, we’d have to start implementing major energy conservation measures. Access to personal replicators would be the first thing to go.” Nozawa made a face. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m getting tired of Neelix’s cooking. At least Javinta has some replicator rations left so we’re going to make the most of it tonight.”

Delaney arched her eyebrows. Nozawa had taken up with Javinta Ossian, a Maquis, not long after they’d entered the DQ. What had first appeared to be just a fling seemed to have solidified into something more. “If you’re running low, I heard that Billy Tefler and William Baxter are running a standing poker game, with a one ration minimum to enter,” Delaney said.

“Lieutenant Tuvok doesn’t approve of gambling, and besides, I heard Tom Paris wins almost every hand he plays anyway. Not interested in donating more replicator rations to _him_ ,” Nozawa said. He pointed to the stack of PADDs. “Anyway, I wanted to drop those off. Latest readings from the helm, including some interesting spatial phenomena about half a million kilometers away. Might obscure the sensors.”

“Thanks. We can compensate for any disturbances,” Delaney said. Nozawa flashed them both a smile and then retreated to the science lab. Delaney turned back to her station and for the next fifteen minutes or so, she and Henley worked together to refine their findings. Soon, Delaney had no doubt. It would definitely be worth _Voyager’_ s while to send a shuttle craft to the planet to take an ore sample. She reached out and exchanged an exuberant high five with Henley.

An idea formed in her mind. She still had a few replicator rations of her own. After they reported their findings to Commander Chakotay and the captain, she decided that she would replicate a bottle of champagne and enjoy a quiet night alone in her quarters. But then she cast a sideways look at Henley.

“So, after we finish our shift…I have some replicator rations,” Delaney began.

“Oh, I couldn’t,” Henley said immediately.

Delaney smiled. “This has been a good day.” She twirled in her chair, so she was facing Mariah directly. “We have so few of these victories, why not toast to it?”

Henley considered and then nodded. “I _am_ free, actually - Gerron said he was going to meet Lon Suder and Michael Jonas in the holodeck tonight. They’ve got this long-running program they’re really into.”

“I’m free, too,” Delaney said, thinking that Megan would probably be with Tom Paris. At any rate, she wasn’t in the mood to rehash their argument, even if Megan _was_ willing to speak to her. “So, what do you think?”

“Sure.”

Delaney smiled to herself. _That wasn’t so hard_ “You know what?” she said aloud, “This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”


End file.
